Telephone-mouthpiece protector.



L. A. COLUNS TELEPHONE MOUTHPIECE PROTECTOR,

APPLICATION man MAY12. 914

1 ,140,954. Patented my 25, 1915.

wumdoz "UNITED, STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEE A. COLLINS, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY rnLnrrionn-mournrmcn rno'rnoron.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it'known that I, Len A. COLLINS, citizeirof the United States, residing at Louis ville, in the county of Jefferson and State of Kentucky, have invented ertain new and useful Improvements in Telephone-Mouthpiece Protectors, of which the following is a specification.

' This invention relates 'to an improved protector for telephone mouthpieces.

The possibility of infection through the use of public telephones is well known since in order to properly talk over a telephone,

the moufth must be placed close to the mouthpiece thereof, and thus ample opportunity is afi orded for the disease of one user to be transmitted to other users of the telephone either through accidental contact with the .mouthpiece orby reason of the fact that the mouth of each user must be brought into such close proximity to the mouthpiece of thetclephone.

The present invention accordingly has for its primary. object to provide a pro tector for telephone mouthpieces which will be of such simple construction and consequent low cost that eachperson may readily provide himself with a protector, and to also provide a. device so constructed as to efficiently protect the person using the telephone and so arranged as to be adapted for ready attachment to or detachment from the telephone mouthpiece.

The invention has as a further object to provide a protector which will be constructed.

of few parts and which will at the same.

time be adapted for attachment to telephone mouthpieces of different diameters without the necessity of adjustment. With these and other objects in view my invention will be more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and thenspeeificall-y pointedout in the claims which are attached to and form-a part of this application.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1' isa perspective view showing my improved protector applied to a telephone mouthplece, conventionally shown, Fig. 2 is a verticalsectional view showing the protector" apphed,F1g. 3 is a perspective view showing the parts of the protector detached but in .proper relative position, and Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view of the protector on an enlarged scale, and especially showing Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 25, 1915.

Application filed Kay 12, 1914. Serial No. 838,129.

the arrangement of the diaphragm and the locking ring therefor.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the same reference characters.

In constructing my improved sanitary telephone mouthpiece I have had in mind 1 the provision of a 'device of this character which shall be as simple in construction as possible and which shall at the -same time be adapted for use under a variety of circumstancesso as to permitthe protector to be employed upon. telephone mouthpieces of various-diameters.

In the drawings, the body portion or shell of my improved protector as a whole,

is indicated at 10 and may be formed of resilient metal, aluminum, or any other suitable material.' The body portion 10 is, generally speaking, a stepped frusto conical shell, the wall thereof h." ving formed therein a series of bands indicated at 11, 14, and

16 which serially increase in diameter toward the base of the shell and are arranged concentric to and parallel with the vertical axis thereof. The bands 11, 14, and 16 are connected by intermediate webs designated 13 and 15 which are also concentric to the 1 vertical axis of the shell and which extend at substantially rightangles to such axis,

a plurality of mouthpiece engaging seats or body portion of'the protector are disposed 100 to engage the free edge of the mouthpiece. In said. Fig. 2, the telephone mouthpiece which is conventionally illustrated at 17 is shown of such diameter as to engage within the outer band'16 as will be readily under- 105 stood.

While I have shown the body portion of the protector as being adapted to engage telephone mouthpieces of three different diameters, still, it is to be understood that the 110 range of use of the device may be greatly en lei-god by'fo'rining the body porti n with a greater number of superposed bands, the wall. of the body portion being made longer or course and i do not Wish to limit myself I to the particular number of hands and ofiiset portions shown.

The Wall of the body portion 10 is preferably instruck as shown to provides circumferentially extending rib or head 18 upon each ofthe vertically arranged portions 11, 14 and 16 and as Will be clear, said beads are each so arranged as to engage im mediately in-the rear of the outer end edge of the telephone mouthpiece when the pro tector-is applied thereto, to thus securely hold the protector in position. in this connection, attention is called to the fact that the side edges of the said beads disposed adjacent the smaller end of the shell provide ioircumferentially arranged shoulders adapted to bite into the terminal tiered outer'wall of the mouthpiece to efi'ectually prevent the displacement of the shell since the said shoulders will be held in contact With the outer face of the mouthpiece through the resiliency of the beads and any movement of the shell away from the mouthpiece Will bring the said shoulders into secure engagement therewith. lit will be observed that the body portion 10 may be readily applied to any mouthpiece of a diameter receivable in one oi? the rings formed in the Wall thereof and'may with equal facility be removed. The protector is therefore, adapted to be carried in the pocket to be applied to various telephones as the user may require. 1 consequently provide a very convenient device and attention is called to the fact that When the protector is applied, in'the practical use of the invention, the adjacent band will be caused to expend to resiliently engafle the margin. of the telephone mouthpiece, the acent head be ing thus flattened. or streightened and. brought into close frictional engugemeut with the mouthpiece. .ln this the protector Will be firmly held in operative position.

Mounted Within the body portion 10 and arranged to eat against the flange 12 thereof is a diaphragm 19 The diaphragm 19 may be fornied of mica paper, or any other suit able material through which sound Waves will be readily transmitted, and. bearing against the inner peripheral edge said diaphragm is a locking ring 2 9.. The locking}; ring- 20 is preferably detachably mounted Within the body portion 10., being engaged and held in position by the adjacent head i The locking ring 20 is also of such diameter as to frictionally engage Within the adjacent Wall of the band 11., to thus more securely hold it in place and by this construction itplied Will etliciently protect the user of the telephone is thoroughly sanitary in everyway since the person using'the pro-- tector Wlll be the only one comingin contact there with.

Having thus described my invention, What l claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:-

l. A telephone mouthpiece protector ineluding an integrally formed stepped conical shell providing mouthpiece receiving pockets, an inwardly extending annular "flange formed on the smaller end of the shell, a plurality of circuniiferentially dis-- posed and inwardly extending beads struck from the shell, one of said; beads being arranged within each of said pockets and disposed to resiliently engage the mouthpiece in the rear of the terminal outer edge thereof l'or maintaining the shell in engagement with the mouthpiece, a diaphragm dis'oosed Within the terminal pocket at the smaller end of theshell and seating against said flange, and a locking ring frictionally engaging Within said last mentioned pocket and'engaging said diaphragm, said locking ring'being engaged by the head of said iterniin'al pocket for maintaining it in position.

2. A device of the character described including a support disposed to fit over the flared outer extremity of a telephone mouthpiece, a circumferentiully extending and inwardly disposed bead formed on the support and disposed to bear against the outer Wall of the mouthpieceone side edge of said head providing a shoulder arranged to engage the outer wall oi said mouthpiece adjacent the outer terminal end edge thereof, and a diaphragm carried by the support.

- ln testimony whereof I ailix. my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

LEEA. COLLINSO [n sIl Witnesses is P, ltrnco, T. L. llrrs'rnn I (lollies or this glute -e rosy "he obtained for five cents each, b fiddmssmg me fiommissigmr 6f Patmtg,

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